Series Review – Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth ~ The Animation

As a fan of the Aria the animation series, I had quite a bit of expectations of Ikoku Meiro no Croisee. It was set to be a slice of life/iyashikei series, directed by Sato Junichi and with animation by Satelight. That being said, I have to say that this series didn’t quite meet up to my expectations. There are probably several factors that played into my disappointment of Ikoku Meiro, but aside from that, this series is still a solid slice of life series. It has some rather adorable characters, a historical setting, and a plot that is rather subtle at times. The series does a great job with some of it’s character development, and that is one thing I definitely appreciate.

That being said, I do believe my main issue with this series was the believability of the characters. It’s one thing when you have a series like Aria, an anime that takes place in a fictional world. Ikoku Meiro, however, sets itself up in a historical, real life setting (Paris during the late 19th century). That in itself automatically gets me into the mindset of expecting something realistic, yet some of the characters were anything but realistic. Actually, to be specific, the main heroine Yune was the one character I had a particular uncomfortable feeling with. Yune is setup to be the idealized little Japanese girl, where she is absolutely adorable and can do absolutely no wrong. There are tons of times in this series where Yune is cast off as completely innocent, and all the blame/bad-will is thrown onto Claude, or another “westerner” in the series. Quite frankly, this notion of an idealized Japanese girl completely conflicts with the idea of a realistic historical drama. A lot of times, the Japanese ideals espoused in this series seemed a bit too good to be true, and certainly is not taking into account a balanced perspective of both cultural focuses of this series.

One thing that I feel could’ve used more work was the usage of the setting itself. Exploring a late 19th century Paris would’ve revealed much more than just the high-class lifestyles and the life inside a small artisan shop. We would’ve seen a lot of the culture, as well as the poverty and strong class distinctions associated with such times. While some of these topics are briefly touched upon, they are never really fully explored in extreme detail, which results in a rather biased overall picture of a romanticized Paris where everything was all pretty and lovely. While I do understand that this was meant to be a slice of life series, I feel that this series could’ve been absolutely amazing if it fully realized the potential offered up by the setting itself.

That being said, what Ikoku Meiro did greatly excel at is having some excellent character development, specifically whenever there wasn’t a central focus on the explicit differences between Japanese and Western Culture. The character backstories for Claude, Camille, Yune, and Alice all meshed well together to create some compelling drama during certain arcs. They had their rather captivating moments throughout the series, and occasionally actually did have some good cultural conflicts. The chemistry between the cast was superb, such as the subtle involvement of Oscar into many different events in this series. The character development at times was simply fantastic, and made for a memorable cast that grew upon you over time.

All in all, this was a slice of life series that certainly tugged at the heartstrings. It didn’t quite score a home run in my book due to some rather annoying little flaws, but that didn’t stop this series from being a surprisingly powerful human drama. Yet at the same time, while it was a powerful drama, it was subtle in the most intricate of ways, and really brings out the full potential to some of the cast. There is much more to this series than the simple facade of cuteness that is immediately noticeable about Ikoku Meiro. There are a ton of tiny factors that play into this series, and it’s the aggregate of all of these small things that makes this series a joy to watch.

Animation/Art: 9.0/10

Music: 8.5/10

Setting: 7.5/10

Characters: 8.5/10

Story: 8.0/10

Overall Enjoyment: 8.3/10

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – 12 (Final)

Episode 12 Final –

Well, this was a rather cute final episode. It’s an adorable way to close off this series, with Claude and Yune getting some rather nice quiet moments to themselves. As a finale meant to wrap up this series, it did a rather nice job of drawing parallels between the cat with the bell and Yune, as well as use the plot device to bring into focus how important Yune has become to the local community. It was really quite the charming episode.

What came as a surprise to me is how this episode went about in revealing Claude’s past with his farther. Based on previous episodes, he has always been too stubborn to actively talk about his past, so the moments he revealed his past to Yune was a bit unexpected. Nevertheless, it was a great way for to get Yune to understand Claude’s perspective a bit more, and Claude learned quite a bit about Yune as well.

In the end, the lost cat plot device was used as a foil to Yune’s current presence in the galleria. She’s gradually become well known amongst her aquaintances in the area, and is quite a bit of progress in comparison to her position in the beginning of the series. Claude, too, has changed by a lot since then.

This episode did a fine job in wrapping up Ikoku Meiro, but there are still some loose ends here. We still haven’t had a proper conclusion to the Camille issue, and Claude still is too stubborn and hot-headed to check out the Magasin. I guess the shorter series length prevented the creators from fully exploring those issues, but at least Satelight didn’t cram in a conclusion.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.6/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – 11

Episode 11 –

Ahah, and here’s the episode that reveals Yune’s past with regards to her elder sister. As the series has continuously hinted up until this point, there is indeed a rather sad past involving Yune and her sister. As for what the issue was, it fits surprisingly well with the overall theme of this series, which is pretty much about the cultural differences between Japan and France during this time period. The series usually uses a much more blatant way of expressing this conflict, so this episode’s more roundabout approach was much more likable. It allowed for some nice development for Yune and her family, and showed us a slightly new perspective to this series; a brief scene of Japan during the pre-industrial period, and how biases at the time were quite strong.

The most notable conflicting point right off the bat would be the fact of Yune’s sister’s tragic past with regards to her eyes. Blue eyes are certainly extremely uncommon amongst Japanese, and are generally looked upon with some foreignness (even more so in pre-industrial Japan). The fact that Yune’s sister had blue eyes means that she was probably a child of a international marriage of some sort, and if you consider episode 4.5, this becomes even more obvious.

What I found surprising about this series is how that, while it focused in on Yune’s past, it was also a powerful character development episode for Claude as well. Yune’s revelation of her past was a powerful way of cutting through all the barriers that Claude has been stubbornly putting up between himself and Yune, which he has been doing to prevent himself from being hurt in a similar fashion to how he felt when he lost his father. Oscar was quite the insightful man this episode, with his remarks cutting right to the point with regards to both Yune and Claude.

In the end, this was an excellent buildup episode that actually strengthened the bond between Yune and Claude. They’re both now fully aware of each other’s past, and hold a better understanding of each other. This does bring up the issue of how Claude will eventually get over his own angsty issues with regards to his past with his father, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Yune becomes a key factor in changing his pent up emotions. Now the only thing that slightly bugs me here is how the crying and such felt kind of overdramatized here, though with Yune being slightly drunk I guess it makes perfect.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.8/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – 10

Episode 10 –

Well, this was certainly a rather calm episode in comparison to some of the Camile drama we’ve been seeing recently. That being said, this episode does touch upon the pasts of both Yune and Claude and goes into a bit more depth about their family tensions in their childhood. The family tensions are much more prominent for Claude than Yune, but they are still subtly hinted at in Yune’s case. As to whether the creators will make use of this backstory with Yune remains to be seen. The only thing that really that slightly bugs me here is how the silly moments with Alice and the projector sharply contrasts with the focus on Claude and Yune’s past, and this lack of focus in terms of storytelling is a bit worrying. It does add to the light-hearted atmosphere and humor here, but I feel it doesn’t mix too well with the particularly serious themes at hand.

If you were looking for silly fun though, this episode certainly didn’t disappoint. Alice and Yune once again are up to their fun little antics, this time around old projectors, moving pictures, and cats. There were plenty amusing moments, all courtesy of Oscar and his silly whims, but this does also make me wonder if people truly had this much free time back in olden Paris. I mean, Oscar lounges around and fools around with ladies all day, and even Yune doesn’t seem to do too much work. Alice, as a member of the aristocracy, probably doesn’t actually need to do any work, but the characters here seem to have wayy too much spare time. I guess this is an anime though, so conventional logic doesn’t quite apply. That, and as a series Ikoku would probably be uninteresting if it incorporated that level of realism.

This episode does demonstrate how prideful of a guy Claude is, yet at the same time shows his inferiority complex to his late father. This dynamic has been around in this series for a while now, but this is probably the first time that they’ve done some direct comparisons between the father and son. Seeing Claude struggling to compare himself with his father does reflect upon his guilt about his father’s death, as well as his desire to improve. On the other hand, Yune once again recollects moments with her precious older sister. For those that have seen episode 4.5, there are very strong hints that Yune’s sister faced some sort of discrimination in Japan, which is probably why Yune always seems to look back on her past with a sad and forlorn expression. I don’t really know what happened to Yune’s sister in the past, but the way in which Yune recollects her sister feels very melancholy and bittersweet.

In the end, this episode was important in the sense that it gave more depth to Claude’s inner conflict with regards to his late father. Yet at the same time, the episode does also lead up more into Yune’s past with her sister. The one issue I do see here though is if this series will capitalize on such developments in the next few episodes or not; the weakness to this series is how, due to it’s episodic nature, previous episodes rarely build upon each other. The exceptions here would be all those episodes devoted to Camile and Claude, but aside from that, I do worry that the character development here might not be fully utilized in future episodes. With only two more episodes left in this series, lack of continuity could prove to be a critical problem.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.4/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – 09

Episode 09 –

This episode delved further into the Claude x Camile debacle, and it turns out it’s just as deep-rooted as I had come to expect. At this point, this series is working to flesh out the relationship between the two to get a conflict going, and thankfully it’s quite the well-developed conflict. Unlike the usual focus on the cultural differences between Japan and France, this episode is going through the social tensions within each respective culture, which in my opinion makes for a much better story. I do believe this is a 12 episode series, so seeing proper development like this is really nice to see.

What I do appreciate is the story’s continued development of Claude and Camille. Just based on the past few episodes, there is quite a long history between the two, and it adds a sense of heft and seriousness to the conflict at hand. There does seem to be a strange dynamic here where the two both blame each other to some extent for the current situation, and their interactions reflect this in a rather intriguing manner. They don’t seem to have a comprehensive understanding of each other’s perspectives, which is causing a tremendous level of anxiety. Funny how Yune, a completely unrelated girl, ended up being the catalyst for this entire affair.

Interestingly enough, the creators also decided to briefly throw in Yune’s sister into the mix. Based on Yune’s seemingly melancholy yet happy memories of her sister, it feels as if Yune is in a situation somewhat related to what’s going on here, and the hints thrown in this episode do make me wonder more about her past. One interesting little thing a friend pointed out to me earlier is how in episode 4.5, Yune’s sister has bluish eyes, which is a rather strong contrast to the dark-greenish eyes that Yune has. Quite the odd little detail.

Either ways, this episode turned out as a pretty decent buildup episode, and the series in general has done an excellent job with exploring the feelings of Claude and Camile. Strangely enough, while Yune was the catalyst for this conflict, I get the feeling she will somehow wrap up this conflict as well. As to what role she will be playing from here on, maybe she’ll be kind of like a beacon to guide the way. I can’t really say anything for certain, but she is definitely the factor that is inducing change and pushing the story forward.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.7/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – 08

Episode 08 –

Now this is more like it. Ikoku meiro always ends up the most enjoyable whenever it doesn’t focus on the differences between Japanese and Westerm culture, but rather, focusing in on the actual characters of the series. This series has a small but rather well-defined cast, and this episode does an awesome job at layering the complexities to some of the characters. I really like the focus on the relationship between Camille and Claude, mainly because there is an uncertainty in the air with regards to their past. Their attitudes towards each other, their drastically different changes from their childhood, and everything they say to each other, all point towards a more intricate past. The creators are also using Yune and Alice to somewhat parallel the events Camille and Claude underwent as children, which was a nice little touch on their part.

Alice is really a great character to watch when she isn’t forcing some stupid drama-heavy conflict down our throats (which happened in her debut episode). Alice really helps bring a festive mood to this episode, even with it’s rather mysterious atmosphere around Claude and Camille. Interestingly enough, the situation between Camille and Claude does seem to be the typical “noble vs lower class” issue, but with each passing scene of Camille, more and more intricate layers are being thrown on top of the issue. There are some deep complications to their relationship that I really want to see, and Camille’s little chat with Yune did wonders in further developing their characters.

Actually, now that I think about it, Yune really has been the catalyst to everything going on in this episode, and while Yune isn’t playing a central role in the conflict here, she is definitely becoming a very important foil to both Camille and Claude. Next episode, it seems we may finally see the situation through Claude’s eyes, which I’m definitely curious to see. As of now, this series is gradually sprinkling in the drama, which definitely breaks with regular slice-of-life conventions (I definitely can’t compare this to Aria anymore in terms of atmosphere). Not this change is necessarily a bad thing though, I actually think it feels more natural for this series.

Quick Impressions: 4.0/5

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – 07

Episode 07 –

This had to be one of the best episodes of Ikoku so far, yet for some reason I can’t find myself empathizing with Yune at all. I guess I feel that she is being excessively naive in some ways, and I can’t quite buy the “it’s her Japanese heritage!” excuse here. The conflict is oversimplified to a basic “choose black or white” scenario, which is kind of annoying. Even if Yune were to sympathize with the poor lad, it’s a bit weird how she shows no form of caution towards him. Maybe I’m just like Claude, and just can’t really completely understand Yune’s perspective all too well. ヽ（´ー｀）┌

Anyways, if I take my personal feelings out of the equation here, this episode was actually really, really good at exploring the relationship between Claude and Yune. Best of all, the development here isn’t afraid to touch upon the more iffy issues that arise between the two, and the sense unease and uncertainty they have towards each other. The tension in the air is really powerful at times, especially when the characters notice some peculiar yet critical traits to their behavior towards each other. This all roots back to a fundamental issue that’s been around since the first episode; where Yune and Claude are still cautious around each other, and saw each other more as figures bound by duty and responsibilities rather than simple friendships. The way in which the story explores this relationship  here was excellent, and really got a powerful yet simple message across; that they are like family, and family should believe in each other.

This does relate back to the poor boy who Yune sympathizes for, whom I think Yune perceives as more like “extended family”. After all, Yune has claiming she wants to be part of the “family” of Paris. I’m probably taking her words a bit too literally, but Yune’s attempts to understand the child at least indicates that she has some genuine concerns about him that are more towards a familial level. Claude’s actions here were rather rash and hot-headed on his part, but it’s those same actions that allowed him to think things through more thoroughly, and allowed him to reflect upon his feelings more. And it seems that Claude’s time to think things out worked out for the better.

One thing that is definitely worth mentioning is how Oscar forms a strong backbone to the relationship between Yune and Claude. His way of gently pushing and cheering on Claude and Yune, and getting them to work out their misunderstandings bit by bit, makes him an important figure to the series in his own unique way. He has a profound influence on how their “family” works through their problems and fun times, and is probably one of the most critical pieces to the main cast.

In the end, this episode had a superb blend of character development and small bits of drama. The mixture of the two here allowed for some very significant changes in how our main characters perceive and understand each other, as well as flesh out some of the side characters too. The theme of “family” is consistently explored throughout the episode in a level-headed, yet meaningful way. As to where the series will go from here, I’m really looking forward to seeing more development centered on Camille and Claude. Their rather mysterious past really perks my interest.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.9/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – 06

Episode 06 –

You know, Alice is a much more fun character when she is not the central cause of the conflict. Rather than creating some forced drama, Alice is much more fitting as a simple character who loves to giggle and has fun. Anyways, the central conflict this episode was actually quite subtle, and surprisingly enough brings some focus back upon the Claude-Camille relationship that was brought up earlier. Camille’s feelings were rather tastefully portrayed, and proved to bring a slight mature and complex tone to the otherwise goofy nature to this episode.

Long story short, this episode is about Alice trying to get Yune to take a few photographs. It’s funny how obsessed Alice is with Japanese culture, yet she her excitement lets her get carried away and not even try on kimonos properly. The rather interesting bits here were the details both Yune and Alice discussed with regards to their cultural wardrobes, from kimonos to frilly dresses, corsets and so forth. Their reactions to each other were quite genuine, and seeing how giggly yet uncomfortable they were in each other’s cultural clothing was quite funny. Yune in a frilly dress doesn’t quite fit though, she’s much better off in a kimono. This does lead to Yune’s inability to reach a cat, mainly because of her large dress, and was pretty hilarious, lol.

While the central focus here might’ve been Japanese and French garments, this episode was also very good at subtly pointing at some sort of relationship between Claude and Camille. The characterization here was well done, and did a nice job in adding a shade of seriousness to this whimsical episode. This definitely relates back to the backstory we see about Camile and Claude back in episode 4.5.

In the end, this episode was a simple episode that detailed the cultural customs that come with each other’s clothes. And in that aspect, it turns out that the writers researched things quite thoroughly. Along with that came a rather subtle bit of drama that I personally thought was great.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.9/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – 05

Episode 05 –

This was markedly different in tone from previous, with a rather tense conflict smack in the middle of it. While this series has normally opted for a rather cheery, happy way of going about things, for the first time we see Yune actually despairing a bit, although I guess she was despairing in her own cute way. The fundamental cultural differences that this episode does explore provides a rather comprehensive perspective of the main roots of this conflict. Differences between France and Japanese culture in general has always been a main point to this series, but this is the first time we’ve seen some indepth exploration of the people themselves, and how they perceive each other.

Now, I personally can’t say my perspective on European culture is correct, but I’m guessing that Europeans tend to stay away from strangers. In America, this isn’t quite the same, which is why I can’t 100% relate to the points that this episode brings up. But I do understand how the Japanese mentality to constantly help others and do their best for others would starkly contrast with the attitudes of people smack in the middle of Paris.

The scene with the shop was probably the most jarring on target, where the young homeless boy stole the candleholder. In Japan, normally stealing and such is something that is extremely uncommon, mainly because of the whole “maintain a peaceful society” mindset that is so ingrained in Japanese culture. In contrast, I’m pretty sure the same idea does NOT apply in France. I guess certain western cultures in general aren’t as trusting and forgiving of others. I am glad that this episode touched upon the poverty in Paris a bit, because previously I’d been really worried that this series was trying to build a “perfect”, romanticised Paris. Historically speaking, Paris was not all tea and flowers during this time period, and the involvement of the boy is a small little poke at such.

There are two little things that do bug me though. One of these complaints, I could write up an entire post on, but my only other complaint is, once again, the historical accuracy to this series. I do understand some of the cultural misunderstandings going on here, but do modern day cultural misunderstandings apply to similar situations more than 200 years ago? I get the feeling that cultural misunderstandings were on a completely different level back then, but then again, I’m not to familiar with how things were before the Meiji era. Once again, I think I’m just being too picky.

In the end though, this proved to be a good character development episode for Yune and claude. The story itself was touching, and at times quite telling of Yune’s preconceptions of French culture. The more stark, darker tone to the conflict was a bit surprising, but it did a good job at pushing things foward.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.9/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – 4.5 (Special)

Episode 4.5 –

This was quite the unexpected extra episode. This turned out to be an enlightening episode about both Yune’s past, and surprisingly, Camile’s (Alice’s sister) past as well. While I was expecting something related to Yune, the little curveball where there were strong hints about Alice’s sister came as a total surprise. That, and apparently there was some sort of relationship between her and Claude back in the past. Aside from touching upon each of their pasts, though, this episode was peaceful with it’s focus on Yune’s melodic songs, as well as the visiting guitarist’s tunes.

There was very little screentime for Claude and Oscar, and instead, the episode focused on the arrival of a traveling guitarist who happens to know Japanese tunes. Of course, Yune is surprised at hearing Japanese tunes back in Paris, and is even more surprised when Alice brings both Yune and the guitarist to her garden so that they can perform a mini-concert for her. Alice is quite the demanding young aristocrat, eh? The concert itself has some very relaxed, slow and peaceful tunes, and while Yune’s singing wasn’t amazing, her voice fit the music quite well.

One plot twist here was how the guitarist was familiar with a tune that Yune’s older sister had taught in the past. The story behind this tune is that the song was written by a man who was separated from his love due to social/ethnic differences. There are very strong hints that Yune’s sister was under similar conditions, and surprisingly enough, it may have also been the same to Camile.

Camile’s very strong response, where she says that love shouldn’t be bound by such means, sticks out like a sore thumb. A flashback with a younger Camile and Claude do strongly imply that she has feelings for him, ever since her childhood. My guess is that due to their difference in social status, they couldn’t be together (or at least, her family refused to let them). While the episode was lax and goofy on the surface, at the same time the story touched upon some melancholy stories about forlorn lovers, and saddening love tales.

In the end, Yune and Alice, as well as the rest of the cast, were pretty much oblivious to the importance of the story that was told here. But for Camile, and probably for Yune’s sister as well, this story held a lot more importance and significance to them. At the same time, we do learn that Yune’s sister played a crucial role in Yune’s childhood. The character development for these two sister figures was great, even more impressive if you consider how the two have barely gotten any screentime up until now. The ambient atmosphere proved to create a nice balance with the subtle little bits of backstory for the sisters. That being said, I wonder if this love story will ever get a true happy end. Maybe Yune’s sister would know.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.0/5

P.S. Sorry for the low quality screenshots, but it seems that there won’t be any HD raws for a while.

Screenshots are later in the post.